No More Dream
by CorpseReviver
Summary: I looked at her as she splashed water on Hanji happily, giggling and turning around to look at me; her smile shone brightly, brighter than the sun reflected upon the sea. "Levi! Come here!" She beckoned as she mischievously lowered her hands, ready to splash me as I walked closer despite knowing the faith that would await me. And at this moment I knew, I didn't deserve any of this.
1. Prelims

Hey guys! I'm sorry for not updating my Fairy Tail story anymore but I'm literally so over it and my writing makes me cringe. So I'm moving on to another story that will also probably make me cringe within a few months. But in the meantime, enjoy :)

...

**PRELIMS**

"The name's Levi."

What a cocky bastard. I could already tell he wouldn't get very far in the Survey Corps with that attitude. And yet, it piqued my interest. I chose to join the Survey Corps first and foremost to get away from the poor imbecile my parents insisted I marry but also, just because it sounded fun. I quickly came to discover there wasn't much fun to be had here. After a while, everything became boring: the training, the missions, even killing titans. Most soldiers came and went within a matter of months, leaving me no time to get to know them, let alone miss them. Zoe was an exception of course; she was one of the reasons why I didn't just go running off into the outside world, just for shit and giggles, and to see how far I could make it without (or more like, before) dying. There was also a bit of fun to be had in teasing my older cousin Erwin. He was so serious all the time; it made me absolutely ecstatic to hear him scream "MIKI SMITH!" across the door when he realized someone had poured salt in his tea. Why'd he always blame me? Maybe I was innocent! Or maybe not.

"I'm Isabel!"

Cute. Probably dead within a few weeks.

"I'm Farlan, nice to meet you."

Oh, _very _cute. Hopefully that one won't die.

...**TIME SKIP**...

... Aaaaand they died.

I rode through the thick fog in the direction of the screams, just in time to see someone kill (I guess the right word would be annihilate, the poor beast) a titan who had previously made a feast out of a good bunch of our comrades. I passed Farlan's head on the ground as my horse came to a stop. More people arrived and we all watched the titan's corpse disappear into smoke. As the fog started to dissipate, I could see Erwin talking to Levi on the other side of the corpse. Levi eventually lunged forward at Erwin, who blocked his sword with his bare hand. Words that I couldn't hear were exchanged, and Levi fell to his knees as my cousin turned around and walked away.

"Miki! I need you over here!"

I turned around and joined my comrades, who had started picking up body parts to be brought back home. I sighed as I got off my horse and started trying to mix and match the arms to the torsos and so on. What a gruesome puzzle. I came to a stop when I found Isabel's torso: I knew it was hers, she had this super cute bracelet on this morning. Is it stealing if the person's dead? Meh. I left the bracelet alone and instead, ripped the wings off her jacket's front pocket. It wasn't something I did very often, but when I knew someone enough to remember their name, I had taken the habit of collecting the insigna off their corpse so I could give it to their family. They didn't need to see the corpse puzzle, did they? To me, it felt like proof enough that they'd existed, yet they didn't anymore. I kept at work and eventually found Farlan's body and did the same. Once we were done, we rode back to town, empty handed as usual, and without any new information regarding the giant beasts that kept us imprisoned within these walls.


	2. Challenge

A few months later...

"Lord almighty please close this curtain and bestow upon me the power of sleep." I mumbled as I raised a sleepy hand toward towards my bedroom's window, of which I had forgotten to close the curtains before going to sleep (or falling into a coma) yesterday. I'd experimented with replacing Erwin's coffee with muddy water to see if he'd spot the difference without drinking it. He hadn't. The roaring of my name had resonated through the whole HQ and I'd been damned to run 100 laps around the building... starting at 7 p.m. I had managed to finish them all and brought my barely living self into my room and crashed onto my bed without even removing my clothes or straps.

I slowly stretched my body and brought my feet to the ground, my legs wobbling as I rose, holding myself up with my hands on the bed frame. Damn, I was gonna feel this for a few days. I untied my blonde hair, which was stuck in the messiest ponytail the world had never known, and grabbed a few things for a shower. Squad leaders had the privilege of having a (alas small) private room, but we still had to share a communal bathroom. As I opened the door to my room, rubbing the crust off my still sleepy eyes, I spotted my neighbor doing the same.

"Oh, Zoe! Mornin'!" I said, immediately cheery at the sight of my only friend. Not that I was an antisocial bitch or anything (I was), but she's the only one who managed to, y'know, _not die_, so she won the title of "my only friend".

"Miki! MORNIN'!" She yelled, getting into an awkward pose with both of her arms lifted into a T pose, as if waiting for me to jump into them, which also made her drop everything she was holding in a loud clanking noise. We both looked at each other and started laughing loudly, oblivious to the disgusted look we received from a certain someone who wasn't as joyful in the morning, let alone at _any _time.

"Are you always so unpleasantly loud or do you keep it for when I'm around?"

Hanji and I stopped laughing and looked at Levi, who was staring at us with the most disgusted look on his face.

"Oh, Levi! Good morning!" Hanji all but yelled, unphased by his comment as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, to which he visibly recoiled. It was obvious he despised human contact. Or maybe it was just from Hanji?

"Levi! My dear! Oh, how happy I am to be blessed with your presence on this beautiful morning!" I strutted over and wrapped my arms around his chest, hugging him. He wiggled, trying to get out of mine and Hanji's iron grips, to which he failed miserably. "Tell me, have you managed to grow any taller during the night?" I added, bringin my hand up to his height. He wiggled harder and finally managed to break free.

"No, you just grew shorter, stupid brat." He answered, hitting me on the head as he passed us, probably headed towards the communal dinning room.

"We should hurry, otherwise there won't be any breakfast left, and I doubt Erwin will keep you any after what you did to him yesterday." Hanji said, stiffling back a laugh.

"Riiiiiiight..." I answered, reminded of the wrath that was sure to come when I came in contact with my cousin today. Surely 100 mere laps wouldn't satisfy his thirst for blood. For _my _blood.

...

After my shower, which felt impossibly refreshing, I wrapped a towel around me and started brushing my hair in the communal bathroom. It was really tangled for sleeping with my ponytail on. I was so engrossed into the task that I didn't even notice Hanji sneak up behind me, bare naked as the day she was born. She slipped her arms under mine and grabbed my chest through my towel, rubbing and squeezing.

"HANJI!" I yelled out, surprised, as I tried to break free from her ministrations.

"You might be short but these are humongous! What did you eat to make them so big?!"

"The corpse of my enemies." I replied, holding my towel up and spinning around to face her.

"Hmm, it would make sense that titan corpses would make you bigger. But could we eat them before they disappear? Would they keep disappearing in our stomach? We definitely need to try it out!" She wondered excitedly, turning around to get dressed.

I sighed and finished brushing my hair before pulling it back into my signature ponytail. Hanji gave me energy, but she took back just as much as she gave, if not more. I quickly got dressed and dragged Hanji to the dinning room as she rambled on and on about titans as a food option.

...

"... and it's unbefitting of a squad leader, but I shouldn't have to tell you that; you're 21 now, you should know better, and it just doesn't make sense to me that you-"

"Erwin, Erwin, please, Erwin. You've been nagging for a solid 7 minutes without taking a single breath. I think you're turning purple. Can we eat? I'll run a 100 more laps if it pleases you, but can you, _please_, just _eat_ now?" I stopped Erwin, who had started rambling as soon as Hanji and I had sat down with him and Levi.

He sighed heavily. "Alright, but next time, it won't be just a 100 laps, so remember-"

"No more muddy water. Only salt. Got it." I finished, taking a bite of my hard and dry piece of bread. That's what you get when you take too long to get breakfast in the morning.

Erwin glared at me and got up to leave, having finished his food.

"So it _is _a skill that you have to make people angry." Levi pointed out when Erwin was out of earshot.

"Do I make _you_ angry?" I smiled mischiveously, leaning over the table.

"I can't hear you from up here." He said, mocking my short height.

"You're not much taller than me you know, _Shorty_!" He glared at the nickname I gave him. Hanji had come up with it, but his reaction was always too good not to use it for myself. I glared back at him and I was pretty sure we'd gotten into a staring contest, at least I had, until I felt someone stop next to our table.

"U-um... S-squad Leader... Niki?" I turned towards the voice and there stood a cadet, probably a new guy, never seen him before. A few tables behind him, 5 guys were staring at him. He turned around for a moment, seemingly unsure, and all the guys motioned for him to turn back. He looked at me again. He was tall, well-built, had short brown hair and a square jaw. Typical pretty boy.

"Yes?" I said, sitting back from my staring contest (guess I lost) and turning to look at him.

"C-can I talk to you?" Oh, again. Sigh.

"Sure, what's up?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Um... Can we talk somewhere else?" He asked, looking at Levi and Hanji, who were both staring at him.

See, it wasn't the first time a guy from the Scouts asked me out. It happened at least once a month since I joined. It used to happen more frequently at the start: at one point, half of the guys in my Training Corps had tried. But I rejected every single one of them, getting more and more creative as I got bored with saying "Thanks but no thanks." I'd told the last guy, a strong jock, that if he could beat me at hand-to-hand combat, I'd sleep with him. That's really all he wanted; he obviously had no interest in dating me. He took the challenge and bit the dust within seconds. Since then, it had become less and less frequent, but still happened at least once a month. I decided to have a bit of fun with this one.

"I think we're fine here! So, what is it?" I asked, still smiling.

The guy turned his head towards his friends yet again, who kept giving him thumbs up and motioning for him to continue. Pathetic. The cadet took a deep breath then started.

"S-squad Leader Niki, I've been watching you since I joined and I think you're very beautiful and it would be a great honor if you'd agree to go on a date with me!" He rambled quickly while looking at the ground. I chuckled. He lifted his head and looked at me with a puzzled look. I got up and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Look, I'll cut you a deal. I'll sleep with you if you manage to beat _him_ in hand-to-hand combat. Fair?" I said, pointing to Levi, who lifted his head to glare at me.

"The fuc-" He started, but before he could even finish, the cadet backed up, laughing darkly.

"No way! Do you think I'm stupid? That guy's got nothing to do with it. Is he your boyfriend or what?" His demeanor had completely changed, from shy and polite to an arrogant bastard.

"That's right. He's my boyfriend. Are you gonna fight him or what?" I replied, walking up to the cadet as he backed up towards his friends, who were all but rolling on the ground laughing, which he noticed quickly. Obviously, he'd been the butt of their joke.

"Tsk, those guys told me you'd be an easy lay. Sorry princess, but you're nowhere near cute enough to warrant getting hurt for." He spat, turning around.

I lifted my leg and kicked him in the back, sending him tumbling on top of his friends' table and all over their food.

"My name is MIKI. It's not Niki and it's certainly not _princess_!" I replied angrily as I lifted the sleeves of my jacket, ready to end his miserable, pathetic, worthless life, until I felt someone grab me from behind and lift me up, dragging me out of the dinning room as I kicked around, trying to get free. I saw Hanji get up off our table out of the corner of my eye.

"Sorry for the mess, everyone! Please keep eating!" She yelled as she followed us out. Eventually, I was put down in the hallway and looked around my shoulder to see Levi, who had carried me out. He looked extremely annoyed, but when did he not?

"You're the most problematic child I've ever met, and that's counting Hanji." He said, pointing his thumb towards the woman with glasses, who reached us and immediately started laughing. She held up her hand for a high five, which I gave, and started laughing too. It was contagious.

"You sure taught this one! It's a wonder they keep coming!" Zoe said in between laughs.

"What do you mean, _they keep coming_? Does this happen often?" Levi asked, seemingly more interested than he initially appeared.

"Maybe once a month?"

"It happened a lot more before!"

"You remember that time you challenged 5 of them at the same time? You said whoever could catch you with their 3DM Gear before sundown could date you!"

"The poor bastards lost track of me within minutes! I left the forest and took a nap in my room. They kept chasing each other for hours!"

"Or the one you told you would date if he brought you a titan finger, and he couldn't figure out that it would disappear before he could bring it back."

"Wasn't that guy eaten because of that? I feel kinda bad."

"Alright, thanks, I think I heard enough." Levi waved us off, walking off towards the training ground.

Today would be an interesting day!


	3. Training

I exited the HQ building, heading towards the usual spot of the training grounds, near the stables.

There stood my 4 squad members. They were assigned to me after my old squad got stomped over by an abnormal on our last expedition a month ago. Oops.

Anya Guthrie was a tall, slender, gorgeous, dark haired woman in her early 30s. She had previously worked as a... "hostess" in a brothel in the Stohess District. She'd decided to join the military after an "incident" with an influential client. She'd brought her promiscuous ways with her, which made me wonder why guys even bothered with me when they could go for Anya. However, daring as she might be, she was a calm, composed individual, even in the most dire situations.

Jakob Castaneda, the youngest in our group, had joined the Scouts only a week before being assigned under my leadership. If he wasn't the cutest pumpkin I'd ever seen, then I'd never seen a pumpkin before. If you saw him from behind, you might mistake him for a woman, judging by his slim build and shiny, shoulder-length red hair, which was, more often than not, tied in a tiny ponytail. He showed enthusiasm and interest in everything we did. His favorite words were "3DM gear".

Andrei Britton, contrarily to Jakob, was pretty much the personification of "macho". No one was mistaking this guy for a woman. He was close to 6'6", had a muscular build and large shoulders. He could probably snap my neck using only 2 fingers. He wasn't the fastest, but he was definitely the strongest. Sometimes, I wondered if he might be able to arm wrestle a 10 meter titan and win. Not that I would ask him. The guy barely spoke to the point I wasn't even sure he spoke English. My only pointer to indicate that he did was that he always followed orders diligently.

Finally, Hayden Rhodes. He was by far my favorite addition to the team (but don't tell that to the others). He reminded me of Hanji at times. I could easily joke around with him; he didn't treat me like a squad leader, but more like a comrade, which is the first thing I'd asked them to do when we were introduced. I didn't like being in a position of power. After all, titans didn't understand the concept of hierarchy, nor would they care if they ate a Commander or a Cadet. We all tasted the same to them and the goal was _not _to be tasted. And for that to _not _happen, we needed to work as a group, which is exactly what we were going to work on today.

"Mornin', losers. Let's get on with this so we can all go back to our lives for the short amount of time we probably have left." I greeted them as they turned around and greeted me with the signature military salute.

"Positive and peachy as ever. Can't get enough of you, Captain." Hayden said, leaning against the stable wall, his arms folded, rolling his eyes but smirking nonetheless.

"Give me 20 push ups, then I'll explain what we're going to do today."

"What? Why just me?" Hayden whined, but slowly got down on the ground and started on his early workout.

"Because someone pissed me off this morning and I didn't get to kick their ass, so you're going to take it for them." I answered, walking over and sitting on his back as he grunted, pushing himself up and down 3 more times before letting his body fall to the ground.

"Anybody told you how heavy you-" He started, slowly turning his head to look at me. When he saw the look on my face, he quickly changed his tune.

"I mean wow, you're so light, did you go on a diet recently? I could do push ups with you on my back all day! I can barely even feel you sitting there! Are those new boots?"

I sighed and got up, walked next to Jakob, who was barely keeping it together, and took 4 pieces of paper out of my jacket.

"Alright, today's training, I'll explain it once, so listen carefully. We haven't been on an expedition together yet, so we need to work on communication before that happens. I'm going to hand each of you a piece of paper with an item on it. Your goal? Bring all 4 items back to me. I need _each person_ to bring me all 4 items. Once I hand you the piece of paper, you're free to do whatever you want with it. You can look for the items yourself and trade at the end, or let the others know what your item is and ask them for help gathering it. The first person to bring me all 4 items is free from this week's evening training. The last person will do double the evening training. Easy enough?" I explained to them as I handed each of them their designated piece of paper.

They all seemed to be thinking hard. If you told everyone else what you got, you instantly became useless, as they wouldn't need you anymore to get all 4 items. However, if you didn't tell, you couldn't be sure that the others would help you. They could give you the wrong item, claiming it was the one they were assigned, when in reality it wasn't. Basically, if a single person lied or didn't cooperate, choosing instead to look out for their own interest, the whole operation would either fail or take _much _longer than needed. On the field, it shouldn't, it _couldn't _happen. And I needed to make sure it _wouldn't_. But for that, one person would also have to take the brunt of the work and agree to take the double evening training duty.

"Alright, come find me when you're done; I'll be around the training grounds." I waved them off. They all turned around and immediately started whispering amongst themselves. Well, that was a good start.

I stalked off towards the other side of the grounds, passing a few cadets doing combat training, some of them more diligently than others.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Two cadets had been goofing off, throwing the wooden knives at each other and pretending to be titans, complete with the roaring and foot stomping. They quickly froze as Levi walked up behind them, his face seemingly impassive, but to me, it was obvious he was fuming. Before the cadets even had time to turn towards him, he was grabbing the first one by the shoulder, kicking his leg, making him fall face first on the ground. The second one backed up, hands in front of him, babbling what might've sounded like a sincere apology if his face hadn't looked like he'd seen a titan for the first time (which he probably hadn't even yet). Levi walked up to him, stepping on the one that was lying on the ground, who let out a yelp as the air left his lungs. The poor cadet was on the ground in a mere second, moaning in pain.

"If you came here to fuck around, you might as well get out there right now and see if your dumb games work on titans." Levi sure didn't mess around when it came to training. I walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, to which he immediately recoiled. Guess he _really_ doesn't like being touched.

"Give the poor guys a break. I'm sure even the titans have a better sense of humor than you do." The 2 cadets on the ground lifted their heads at me, thankful watery eyes switching between me and their Squad Leader.

"I'm sure 50 laps around the HQ should be good enough." I added, the looks on their face slowly being replaced by one of sheer horror. "Hop hop, get moving!" I clapped my hands and the 2 cadets quickly rose and started running. Guess they must've realized fast enough that they weren't going to get anything better if they waited for Levi to give them new orders.

"So first you use me as a pretend-boyfriend, and now you're ordering my cadets around? What's next, do you also want my clothes?" He asked, obviously annoyed, as he started walking off towards another group. I jogged after him, looking absentmindedly at a cadet trying to teach another one to do a shoulder throw.

"Only if I can take them off myself." I joked, looking at him seductively. I made those jokes so often he'd started ignoring me after the third or fourth time. Too bad, I missed the look on his face when I initially made those jokes; he would look at Hanji with a confused face until we both started laughing. He'd then get angry and stalk off or call us idiots. Recently though, he'd looked more and more annoyed everytime I made such a comment, which only egged me on more to make them.

As I'd been following Levi absentmindedly, I only just now realized we'd reach the outer side of the barn, which faced away from the training grounds. I gasped as I felt my body being pushed against the wall, one of Levi's hand on it by my head and the other on my shoulder. He slowly lowered his face towards mine and I instinctively closed my eyes.

"Don't talk the talk if you're not gonna walk the walk." I felt his breath against my ear and by the time my eyes were open, Levi was happily walking off, back towards the training grounds. Wait, had this even happened? Surely not. I must be sick or something. I must've imagined it. If those damn cadets could just come back with those dumb items, I could go take a nap. I must've gotten a heat stroke from yesterday's late running. Yes, that's got to be it.


	4. Folly

''And what is this?'' I questioned, switching between my 4 cadets and the 16 items piled up on the ground.

''The items you requested.'' Hayden replied.

''Sure, but who brought them first?'' I questioned. No reply. ''If nobody wins, that means everybody loses. Do y'all want to do double evening training?''

''We came together and decided that if one of us had to do the punishment, then we should all do it.'' Jakob replied, rubbing the back of his head and smiling innocently. Andrei nodded approvingly, Anya smiled and Hayden flashed a thumb up. I sighed.

''I guess you're leaving me no choice, then.'' I started, squinting my eyes at them. They seemed nervous but I also saw no sign of their resolve faltering as I approached them, picking up one of the apples I'd asked them to bring and taking a bite out of it.

''This is the kind of teamwork I want on my team. You get to live another day. Claps and cheers. Now, get the fuck out of here.'' I announced, turning on my heels and heading towards HQ. I was really pleased by their decision. On the field, there wasn't any room for hesitation. If you didn't work as a team, you died. It was as simple as that. There was no winning or losing against your teammates. Our only enemies were the titans. Maybe I'd get to keep this team for a bit longer than my previous one. Maybe I'd even consider getting attached to them.

But at the present moment, I had more invasive thoughts plaguing my mind.

I walked up the stairs of HQ and took a few turns until I reached Hanji's lab. I knocked on the door and received a loud ''Come iiiiiiin!'' from a seemingly struggling Zoe.

I opened the door just in time to witness my friend ramming into a bookshelf, the pile of boxes she was carrying falling to the ground in a loud bang, books and manuscripts scattering about the room. I hurriedly picked up the manuscripts that were rapidly unrolling themselves on the ground, blocking a few of them in their path with my feet.

''Oh, Miki! Thanks!'' Zoe smiled, also bending down and starting to gather her things.

''Why would you even think it's a good idea to carry so many things at once?'' I asked, carefully placing the rolls back in their (what I thought were) respective boxes (but they might've also been in no particular order, knowing Zoe).

''I figured I'd rearrange my lab a bit; I never seem to find anything in here!'' Ah, so there was indeed no particular order.

''You're going to knock yourself out cold when a book falls on your head if you're not more careful.'' I told her, sitting up on the desk and rummaging through a box full of books. All there is to know about Titans. Titans, our neighbors. The Great Titan war. History of Titans. Was there a single book in this lab that wasn't about titans?

''Talking about knocking yourself on the head, I think I might've done just that. I've been getting weird hallucinations. Can you check me out?'' I inquired as Hanji's head appeared from behind a bookshelf she had been organizing (loosely).

''Hallucinations? What kind of hallucinations? I've never heard of a head bump causing such effects.'' Her face instantly lit up. ''Then, this is the perfect time to experiment! First, tell me what you saw.'' She quickly grabbed a notebook, which, mind you, she seemed to be hiding one of those up her ass at all times, and she stared at me expectantly, pen in hand, ready to scribble.

''It was so weird. One second, I was walking with Levi; I was pissing him off as usual, and the next, he had me pinned against the wall, whispering into my ear. I closed my eyes for a second and when I opened them, he was casually walking away. I'm not even sure what happened, but clearly I must be losing my mind.'' Zoe, who had been rapidly taking note of each and every syllable that exited my mouth, stopped dead in her track and lifted an eyebrow at me.

''… And you're sure that was an hallucination?''

''Zoe, really? Levi has a grand range of 2 emotions: annoyed and neutral. That did not happen.'' I replied, crossing my arms over my chest.

''You're right, you're right. Weeeeeeell… I have a lot of things that will give you hallucinations, but nothing to make them go away really… Oh wait, I might have this!'' The woman answered, shuffling through the medication scattered around the shelves. She picked up a translucent flask containing a blue liquid. She shook it slightly, seemingly pleased with her discovery, and handed it to me.

''Drink this. It will definitely help!''

''Ooooookaaaay…'' I replied, carefully taking the bottle off her hands. ''But what is it?''

''Oh you know, just this and that.'' She replied nonchalantly, going back to arranging her bookshelves. I shrugged.

''Oh well, bottoms up!'' I drank the whole thing in one gulp and put the empty flask down on the desk next to me.

''Oh by the way, you should only take a small sip, I've only tested it on horses before so I really have no idea what it'd do to humans.'' The woman added, a tad too late. I looked at her wide-eyed.

''Couldn't you have told me… that… befo-'' I started as I felt my consciousness slip away.

…

I walked through the hallways of HQ, feeling dizzy and disoriented. It seemed as if everything was wobbly. The walls, the floors, the lanterns. It made me want to puke. I heard a door open behind me and turned around just in time to see it close. I walked up to it and tried the doorknob. Locked. I knocked and waited for an answer. I heard the door behind me open and when I turned around, it slammed violently. I ran up to it and banged on it.

''Hey! Who's there?!'' I demanded, still banging.

The initial door, which was now behind me, slowly creaked open. I hurriedly shuffled inside the dark room before the door had a chance to close again. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make out any shape. I started walking slowly alongside the wall, my back to it, until I felt it give out and I fell backwards. I expected to hit the ground, but I didn't. I just kept falling and falling. I tried to scream but no sound came out. I realized I had my 3DM gear on, so in a last effort, I grabbed the triggers and shot the grappling hooks at where a wall, or ceiling, should've been. Surprisingly, the hooks grabbed onto a solid surface, lunging me forward, deeper into the darkness. I swung and swung forward for what seemed like hours but might've possibly been seconds. I eventually felt a cold breeze reach my skin and I thought I could hear sounds. I tried yelling out and a barely audible whisper came out. I kept moving forward, using up more and more gas. As I advanced, despite the gust of wind getting stronger and stronger, it only became harder to breathe. I felt like the air was being sucked out of my lungs, but I kept moving forward. I eventually ran out of gas and tumbled down onto the ground. I got up and started running in the same direction, towards the source of the wind, towards the voices. They eventually became clearer until I could make out words.

''Miki… up… damn it…''

''LEVI!''

My voice echoed through the darkness and a flash of white appeared in front of me, blinding me completely. I tried to grab onto something to keep myself from falling again and was eventually able to grasp something. I held on for dear life and felt someone grab my wrists, trying to make me lose my grip, but I didn't let go and only closed my fists tighter, to the point where my fingernails were digging holes through my palm and through the fabric I was holding onto.

''Miki! Miki, let go!'' I recognized Zoe's voice and my vision slowly became clearer. I was sitting on the ground, my back against the wall. My red haired friend was standing next to me; a look of relief fell upon her face as I looked at her, my vision now almost completely stabilised. My muscles started to relax and my fingers and palms started to hurt. I slowly flexed my fingers and looked at them, noticing a pair of hands grabbing onto my wrists, also slowly letting go. I looked up to see Levi, crouching in front of me. I didn't have time to take in much of the situation before he stood up and started laying into Zoe. I was still too confused by what had just happened, but I was pretty sure I'd heard the words ''irresponsible'', ''dumbass'' and ''more of a danger to humanity than titans''. The man then stormed off, slamming the door behind him.

''I… did I miss something? What just happened?'' I muttered, slowly trying to find my balance and lift myself up off the ground. Zoe grabbed my arm and helped me sit down on a proper chair.

''Miki, I'm so sorry, what I gave you was much stronger than I thought, and you ended up falling unconscious. You wouldn't stop yelling and I didn't know what to do, so I went to get Levi. He started trying to wake you up, then you grabbed onto his shirt and wouldn't let go, no matter how hard we tried to pry you off.'' She explained bashfully.

''… and then I just woke up?'' I asked, unable to recall anything clearly enough.

''Levi kept telling you to wake up and he eventually shouted your name, then you shouted his back and woke up. I'm so sorry, I promise I'll never give you anything that I haven't personally tested ever again.'' Zoe kept apologizing and fumbling with random flasks, positioning them further away from me, as if she were afraid the contents would somehow accidentally end up into my mouth.

''It's fine, Zoe. I know you didn't mean to. But let's… let's make sure this never happens again. Ever. To anyone. Alright?'' I smiled reassuringly, seeing the nervousness slowly dissipate off my friend's face.

''Okay. Yes. Of course. Yes.''

''Alright, you know… I think I'm fine now. I'll go find Levi and thank him… Or apologize… Maybe both.'' I said, getting up and heading for the door as Zoe gave one last apology. I closed the door behind me and made my way towards the training grounds, where I was hoping Levi would've gone back.


	5. Bet

When I arrived at the training grounds, I didn't see Levi. I scanned the communal dinning room at dinner and still didn't catch him. I ate with Hanji, who had regained her usual enthusiasm after she'd fallen upon a book about the titans' anatomy that she'd thought had been lost when her lab had caught on fire a few months ago (which, as she would insist, was definitely not her fault).

''… And so that's why it's obvious that such a thing could never happen, and because of that, we shouldn't…'' My best friend kept blabbering away about a new theory she'd come up with while re-reading said book, involving titan piss being evaporated through titans' pores. But did they even have pores? And wait, did titans even drink? Did they absorb water when it rained? Through the pores that might or might not exist? Those were the questions that interested Zoe at the present time. But the only question that interested me was: Where the fuck had Levi disappeared to? And why was I suddenly so interested in his whereabouts, anyways? I angrily shoved my spoon in my bean stew and took a bite, deciding that none of this was my problem and that I would stop caring this instant.

''So what do you think?'' Hanji said, looking at me expectantly. Woops, I'd missed a part.

''Yeah, totally agree.'' I answered, hoping it would satisfy her.

''Right?! Anyways, I'm going to look into that tonight and let you know tomorrow. Good night!''

''Looking forward to it.'' I waved at her as she hurried back to her lab.

…

The next morning, I woke up bright and early and after getting ready, I made my way to the training grounds, where people were starting to gather.

''What's going on?'' I asked Zoe, spotting her talking with her team near a stage that had been erected at the end of the area.

''Erwin said he had some special training for us today. He wants to make sure all the cadets are ready for the upcoming expedition.'' She answered excitedly.

We waited for about a half hour for everyone to arrive, then Erwin got up on the stage and loudly commanded everyone line up with their team. He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of paper, which he unfolded and studied meticulously.

''According to our last report, the weak point of this year's cadets is that they are entirely too slow. If you're not quick enough out on the field, the abnormals will make a meal out of you in no time, and we can't really spare any more units. To remedy this, I have come up with a little game that should teach you to use your gas efficiently, whilst also reaching maximum speed.'' Erwin explained, smirking, like he'd just had the brightest idea and was excited to present it.

''We're going to play Military police and thieves. It's a game I have devised which involves cadets playing the role of military police officers, and squad leaders being thieves. Your goal is to catch all the thieves. Of course, both teams will be using their 3DM gear. The thieves will also be wearing their green cape, to be easily identified. To catch a thief, you must touch them with this wooden sword.'' Erwin lifted a wooden sword off the ground and brandished it in the air. ''When a thief is caught, they will head back to HQ. However, thieves will also be sporting swords; if one of them hits you, you lose your gas canisters and must walk back to HQ on foot. The thieves will be allowed to take your canisters and use them for themselves. The game ends when either team has run out of players.'' Erwin finished, stabbing the end of the sword into the stage and leaning on it. ''Well, what are you waiting for? Go get your gear!''

I turned around and looked at my team, who seemed really enthusiastic.

''I'll catch you, Squad Leader Smith! And then, you should buy me a cake!'' Jakob said, jumping up and down excitedly.

''This sounds… fun… Maybe… I'll try hard…'' Anya said, thoughtful. Andrei simply nodded, as per usual.

''Then when I catch you, Leader, you should go on a date with me.'' Hayden said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I pushed him away playfully and laughed.

''Sorry, I like you guys, but you're not winning this. Evil will triumph. You better hide your wives, hide your kids, because we're kidnapping everybody out here!'' I announced, complete with a fake maniacal laugh.

''Calm yourself, Satan.'' I heard a deep voice coming from behind and turned around to see Levi walk up alone.

''Hey there, fellow villain! Let's take over the world!" I replied, laughing some more. I might just become a villain for real; the evil laugh really suited me.

"We're going to get ready, _catch _you soon!" Hayden said, winking, and leaving along with his teammates.

I was now alone with Levi and it was the perfect opportunity to apologize for what had transpired the day before. But for some reason, I couldn't find it in me to speak up. I kept looking at the ground and the only sound I could hear was my heartbeat rapidly increasing. Really, this was no time for a heart attack. Levi would probably just let me die this time. I slowly turned my head to the side and glanced at him. He was looking at something further away and seemed thoughtful. It was a windy day. His hair was flowing around. He squinted when a particularly strong gust of wind came. His face was delicate but somehow also masculine at the same time? I found myself wondering what he looked like as a child, and what he'd look like when he was older. Lost in my contemplation, I hadn't realized he'd turned his head around to look at me. Oops, caught. He put his hand on my head and ruffled my bangs, to which I yelped.

"Draw a picture, it'll last longer." He said, smirking. Ugh, I hated him, really! There was no doubt about it! None at all! Nothing! I backed up and stuck my tongue out at him.

"I was just wondering if you'd make me tea while waiting for me to win the game once you've been caught." I said tauntingly. He glared at me.

"If anything, you'll probably have time to take a nap, since you'll probably be the first idiot out." His speculations were completely unfounded; after all, I was one of the best squad leaders and had a kill count of 23.

"Tell you what." I started "If you win, I'll do whatever you want for a day."

"And if you win? Not that it matters, since you won't." He lifted an eyebrow, obviously curious at what I could possibly ask for.

"If I win, then you'd also do whatever I want for a day, it's only fair." I said, and laughed. "Oh, there's just so many humiliating things I want to see you do! What should I even begin with? Maybe you'll wear cat makeup!"

"Cat makeup? Why?" He inquired, scrunching his face.

"Well, of course it'd be cu-" I stopped myself. I was going to call him cute, wasn't I? Nope, no, no way, no can do. "A-anyways, let's go get ready! I'll show you who's boss!" I threw my fist in the air victoriously and marched towards the warehouse where all of our gear was kept. I heard a chuckle from behind.

"You're on."


	6. Distraction

I sure had shown him who was boss.

The game had started with our group, the thieves, getting 5 minutes head start. Everything took place in the forest behind the training grounds, which was about 25km square. My strategy was, get as far as possible from the starting point. Since the cadets had to walk back when they got caught, they wouldn't aim for the back right away; they'd try to take out as many thieves as possible near the beginning.

I lazily swung between the trees, taking my time to reach the furthermost point, which would only take me 10 minutes at most with my 3DM gear. However, it was a good hour of walk or 30 minutes of jog back. And with the gear on, no one wanted to walk an hour. Thankfully, it wasn't warm; it was actually getting quite chilly. We were nearing winter and snow would soon start falling.

I reached the end of the forest and sat down against the trunk of a tree, on a big branch. I didn't have to wait very long though; within a few minutes, I heard rumbling and the sound of someone approaching with 3DM gear. I stood up and hid against the tree trunk, ready to bounce at them. When the sound got closer and I heard the person land on the opposite side of the tree, I swung around quickly, brandishing my wooden sword with my free hand. I spotted the person and realised, albeit too late, that it was another thief. In my surprise, and theirs, I bumped into them, both of us falling to the ground. The other person quickly grabbed me and stuck their hook in the branch, slowing down our fall. The hook, however, quickly fell free from both of our weight and we tumbled on the ground, rolling around a few times. I lifted my head off the ground and looked at the other person, who was a few meters away and also turned their head to look at me.

"Zoe! I'm sorry, I thought you were one of the cadets." I apologized, quickly lifting myself off the ground and walking over to offer her a hand, which she took while laughing.

"It's fine! I didn't think anyone would already be this far! Have you run into anyone else?" She inquired, brushing the dust off her cloak.

"Nope. Figured I'd make the new kids work for it by getting as far as possible from the starting point."

"I actually had the opposite idea and stayed near the beginning, but they found me and started chasing me. If it was just one I would've been fine, but there were 5 of them after me. I got 2 of them but then had to get away. What should we do? Go back there? It should be manageable if we team up."

I thought for a moment.

"I guess you're right. It wouldn't really feel like a victory if I just hid until the end. I also want to know if Levi's already been caught." I smirked and thought how funny that'd be, with his big talk and all. We started heading back slowly, being careful not to make too much noise so as not to alert the others of our approach.

"Miki, I've been meaning to ask you a question... You seem kind of close to Levi lately..." Hanji started, smiling mischievously at me. I rolled my eyes.

"That's not a question, though. That's an observation. And a wrong one, at that. We're not close at all." I answered, lifting an eyebrow. What was Hanji on about, anyways? Levi and I weren't close _at all_. I had nothing to do with this shorty. _Nothing_.

"Why do you care whether he got caught or not, then?"

"We made a bet." I explained Zoe, who seemed to be taking great pleasure in her little interrogation. "Whoever gets eliminated first needs to do whatever the other says for a day."

"Hmmm... Whatever the other says, is that right? What if he makes you do... inappropriate things?" I decided Zoe was an idiot.

"_First of all_, there's absolutely no way that would ever happen. _Second_, are you implying I'm going to lose?" I asked, glaring at her.

"Well, couldn't that happen? After all, Levi _is _pretty much the strongest in the Survey Corps!"

"I'm stronger. Now, quit your blabbering; we're getting closer, people will hear us."

"His personality is even rubbing off on you."

I controled my desire to answer that last comment with a snarky remark. We arrived about 200 meters from the starting point and landed on the ground. I told Zoe that if we walked on ground, we would be quieter, hence, not getting found out, and we could more easily hear sounds around us. In fact, we could hear people fighting in the distance. We roamed around the area carefully, walking alongside the trees and surveying the top for a potential ambush.

I barely had time to react when I heard someone throw their hook from above, a wooden sword swinging dangerously close to my head as I threw myself to the side and around the tree. The person landed on the ground and turned around.

"ANYA, NOW!" Jakob yelled out and I barely avoided Anya's sword by rolling forward. Her sword hit the tree trunk in a loud clank.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!" Hayden yelled as he jumped down from the tree, aiming for me with his sword. I blocked it with mine as I had nowhere else to escape to. Hayden was stronger than me in sheer strength and I was starting to lose grip when Zoe appeared from behind and threw her sword at him. He avoided it, jumping to the left to join Anya, which gave me the opportunity to gain back my footing. Zoe and I stood with our backs to the tree, the 3 cadets circling us.

"On the count of 3, let's both run off in different directions using our 3DM gear. It'll be easier to take out 1 or 2 if we don't have each other's movements to be careful of." Zoe proposed.

"Gotcha. 1..."

"2..."

Before I could say 3, I felt my feet being swept from under myself and fell on my back. I saw Zoe also fall down and within a second, Hayden was lightly hitting me on the head with his sword, Jakob doing the same to Zoe.

"I... what happened?" I asked, confused.

Hayden pointed to the ground beside me, just around the side of the tree, where Andrei was crouching, holding the hook attached to Anya's gear. He pulled on it lightly and the cord straightened under the tension.

"We planned this even before you arrived. You looked distracted this morning so we were hoping this would work!" Hayden explained, holding out his hand to help me up. I took it and stood up, extending my hand to Zoe, who did the same.

"Well, I have to say, I'm impressed by your teamwork. But this isn't over, so don't let your guard down!" I warned as I started walking back towards the training grounds, Zoe trailing behind.

"Well, I hope for your sake that Levi is gonna be waiting for us with a cup of tea; otherwise, you might be in danger." My friend said, raising her eyebrows up and down. I sighed.

"I'm not sure whether I should be happy that my team's working so well together or pissed about losing the bet."

"If anything, maybe you should be happy about losing the bet!"

"Zoe, for God's sake."

"What? I just want my two favorite people to be together; that way, I can always see the both of you at the same time!"

"Yeah, but no. That's never happening sweetheart, so get it out of your head."

We arrived to the training grounds and it was no surprise that Levi wasn't there. Zoe and I took a seat near the stables and watched as more and more cadets came running out of the forest. The 4 members of my team came out last in quick succession, followed by Levi. It was announced that the thieves, our team, had won. My cadets came up to me, Jakob running in front.

"Leader! Sorry, we tried!" He said, catching his breath whilst holding himself up with his hands on his knees.

"That guy's an absolute monster." Hayden said, pointing back to Levi, who was talking to Erwin.

"We really stood no chance... Did we?" Anya added.

"It's fine, you guys did a great job. That guy is just... Yeah, he's not human, don't worry about him!" I said, laughing.

"So Leader, about our date..." Hayden started, taking a seat on the ground next to me. He kept talking but I wasn't listening. I was watching Levi, who was still talking to my cousin. He ran a hand through his hair and my heart went a little weak. _Because I was tired from the exercise, _of course. Duh. Of course. It's not like Levi's smooth voice or impressive skills did anything for me. Hah. I like tall, blonde men. Yeah. Those men. The ones that look nothing like Levi. Take that, Shorty.

My thoughts were stopped as the man in question, seemingly done with his conversation, turned away from Erwin and started heading towards us. As he reached us, he crouched in front of me and brushed my cheek with the back of his fingers.

"I wonder, how cute are you going to look with cat makeup on?"


End file.
